Thursday, 24 May 2018

The omnipresent
malevolence that coats the majority of the album gives it a different feel from
the rest of the band’s catalog. At The Gates do their
best to get the best of both worlds: acting as an agent of fan service and
staying in their own lane, while also using broad strokes to give the old sound
a new context.

‘To Drink From the Night Itself’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Der Widerstand

2. To Drink from the Night Itself

3. A Stare Bound in Stone

4. Palace of Lepers

5. Daggers of Black Haze

6. The Chasm

7. In Nameless Sleep

8. The Colours of the Beast

9. A Labyrinth of Tombs

10. Seas of Starvation

11. In Death They Shall Burn

12. The Mirror Black

The Review:

At The Gates,
being in the At The Gates nostalgia business, have
returned to be really good at being a version of At The Gates
that you’d like to hear, as a fan of At The Gates. I know
how that read just now, and I don’t care: it’s fucking accurate. They’re a band
intent on crafting the best nostalgia album they can, and they’ve done a
exceptional job of meeting those goals here. They’ve taken the moody atmosphere
of ‘With Fear I Kiss The Burning
Darkness’, gussied it up with a modern studio production, a touch of added darkness,
and plugged it into the “Slaughter of The
Soul 5000”, their patented nostalgia refinement machine.

The end result is ‘To Drink From The Night Itself’: the
album morose death metal folks of a certain age are sure to enjoy enough to
spend money on. And bless them for it too! The last thing we need is Jonas
Björler getting some wild “got to keep up with the times” hair up his ass, like
his other band The Haunted did, and you might remember how
long it took them to right that ship once they set sail upon that sea.

The formula for this album is pretty
straightforward: you’ve got your slower, melodic parts that range from mournful
twin harmonies to murky atmospheric darkness. And then you’ve got your uptempo Slayer beat stuff, which I affectionately referred to as
the “Slaughter of the Soul 5000”
machine earlier. That’s the stuff meant to get your “Blinded By Fear” glands salivating, like Pavlov’s dog whenever
Pavlov entered the room. It’s all very comfortable, like a warm sweater and a
cup of hot cocoa at the start of winter.

Here’s the fucked up thing: At The Gates nostalgia baiting us for forty-five minutes
still makes for one of the finer death metal albums of the year, and they sound
like they’re barely trying. The band are an inexorable monolith of “remember
the good old days” emotions here, and all we can do is continue to be
fascinated and entranced by it. We’re powerless to resist the charm of
familiarity, and really why would we want to? There’s no harm in it.

While that “warm sweater of fond
melodeath remembrance” I mentioned earlier is certainly a huge part of why ‘To Drink From The Night Itself’ works
so well, it would be unfair to say that the album doesn’t have its own
character. They’re especially fond of using those deep, resonant chords for
building atmosphere on this album, which gives the album a more menacing
feeling altogether. In fact, you could call this At The Gates’ darkest
album to date, and have a solid case for that belief. ‘With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness’ was more gloomy than
outright ominous, and this album is firmly planted on that second word’s side
of things.

For all of my needling the album for
playing it safe, ‘To Drink From The Night
Itself’ is a big improvement over ‘At
War With Reality’. The parts of the album meant to give you a cozy trip
down memory lane do so remarkably. The omnipresent malevolence that coats the
majority of the album gives it a different feel from the rest of the band’s
catalog. At The Gates do their best to get the best
of both worlds: acting as an agent of fan service and staying in their own
lane, while also using broad strokes to give the old sound a new context. This
album is the musical equivalent of reuniting with old friends at your favorite
old hangout spot and having a great time, even if the place doesn’t look quite
like it did before. An occasion like that is virtually guaranteed to be a joy
for you because it was the safest choice to bring you that joy in the first
place. Does that really diminish the experience any for you? It didn’t for me.

‘To
Drink From the Night Itself’is available digitally here and on CD/LP here.

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

The many
audio-faces that tell the story of ‘Earth Orbiter’ are proof, that if
instrumental music is judged right, executed well, and arranged with craft,
riffs beat words. Every damn time.

“Earth Orbiter” DD track listing:

1). Flux

2). Supercluster

3). Comet Shoemaker – Levy 9 (SL-9)

4). Aurora

5). Matter – Antimatter Annihilation

The Review:

When a band parts company with their singer, the
ensuing discussion generally goes something like this. ‘Fuck! It won’t be the same man, someone else singing those songs. They
might as well pack it in.’ Well in 2017 and only two years on from their
debut EP, Wychhound
did just this by saying farewell to singer Jimmy Holifield. Rather than start
the depressing trudge through London’s abundance of awful singers, the band
decided to strike out on a new path as an instrumental four-piece. Shedding the
crutches a vocalist provides in both immediacy and structure is a brave
decision, and especially risky when you already have an established following
who expect ‘songs.’ So, as Wychhound set forth on a new journey the
question is, can they fill the yawning void left by words?

‘Earth Orbiter’
sets flight to a wall of feedback. As the pressure builds and ‘Flux’ ignites, Wychhound let fly with a barrage
of strings, cymbals and skins. It soon becomes clear how the wordless quartet
intend on bringing their old fans with them, and to be honest it’s the oldest
trick in the book. Big riffs. Lots of them. Really fast. Before you even reach the
minute mark Wychhound
have twisted their audio-rubix-cube three times. Twist one, swaggering
math-groove. Twist two, euphoric chord progression. Twist again, Tool
inflected grunge-swerve. As minute two lands guitarist Miles Mcdonald swaggers
in with a howling solo and boots the whole metaphor out the window. Singers?
Pfft.

The success of instrumental heavy music revolves
around a bands ability to judge phrasing. Without lyrics to convey a message
you are left with the subtle art of assembling meaning from a jigsaw of riffs.
It’s like the best kind of sign language, hold a riff out for too long and the
listener grows bored, take it away too quickly and the message is lost. Track
two ‘Supercluster’ serves as an
advanced elocution lesson in riff-annunciation. Guitarist Roberto Pini kicks
things off with a superb off-kilter riff before Mcdonald laces another emotive
lead into the fray. Just as the narrative begins to wane bass player Neil
Neighbour and drummer Sid Nagdhi grab the track by the low-end and spread a
stuttering bang all over it.

Having seen Wychhound cultivate the seeds of these songs
across a variety of London’s
venues in the last year I must admit that when I first saw the artwork for the
record I didn’t really get it. Don’t get me wrong the art looks great but I
didn’t quite see what a planet of faces had to do with the songs I had heard.

Named after a comet that broke apart in 1992 and
collided with Jupiter, ‘Comet Shoemaker
– Levy 9 (SL-9)’s seven-minutes of aching slow-dawn soon provide me with
the artworks meaning. Wychhound are a band with many faces. Just as
the opening act of the record’s focus sharpens into a prog-metal guise the
second movement softens into soaring arpeggiated post-rock.

Great records are made in small increments. The
stunning arpeggio that permeates ‘Comet...’s
skyline progression is beautiful enough, but exceptional bands always reach for
that extra percent. So, as Mcdonald’s triads arc into the records second half,
Roberto Pini’s haunting e-bow adds that last extra lift and I challenge anyone
not to crane their neck and sigh.

Next up is ‘Aurora.’ Until
now Wychhound’s
sophomore effort has worn its influences on its sleeve and that doesn’t stop
here. Tool,
Russian
Circles, early Barrows and “Zidane”-era Mogwai have all stirred in places, but now Elder’s
totemic influence on the contemporary heavy landscape looms into view. Luckily Wychhound
have no intention of merely paying homage and as the Boston
trio’s ‘Spires
Burn/Release’ EP flickers in the distance the band re-apply their
riff-sculpture and successfully carve another fresh face into the records
strata.

‘Matter –
Antimatter Annihilation’ brings the album to a close and makes a welcome
return to the cinematic melodies of ‘Comet
Shoemaker.’ As the spiralling guitar-runs that litter ‘Earth Orbiter’ arch back and dive into another surging chord
sequence all fears of a loss of narrative are expelled and the record re-enters
the atmosphere on a surge of hefty tone.

In the last year Wychhound have become a staple of London’s burgeoning
heavy-scene. So, by making the decision to record ‘Earth Orbiter’ live, I’m glad to say they have successfully
captured the ebb, flow, movement and act that make their live show so popular.
What’s more impressive however, is the successful progression from traditional
stoner band into a new instrumental landscape. In music, just because a choice
is brave doesn’t necessarily mean it is right, so in shedding their singer Wychhound
could have easily gotten lost in a sea of riffs that lacked narrative. Luckily
the many audio-faces that tell the story of ‘Earth Orbiter’ are proof, that if instrumental music is judged
right, executed well, and arranged with craft, riffs beat words. Every damn
time.

Tuesday, 22 May 2018

"Excalibur"
is going to win over a lot of classic doom fanatics. Iron Void should be on the
radar of the scene for a revivalism that it owns wholly and proudly.

“Excalibur” CS//CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Dragon’s Breath

2). The Coming of a King

3). Lancelot of the Lake

4). Forbidden Love

5). Enemy Within

6). The Grail Quest

7). A Dream to Some, A Nightmare to Others

8). The Death of Arthur

9). Avalon

The Review:

Veteran
doom peddlers Iron
Void have had plenty of fits and starts over their career. After
forming in 1998, the band disbanded for a decade before roaring back with a
vengeance, dropping 2010's "Spell of
Ruin," 2014's "Iron Void"
and "Doomsday" in 2015. Now
at their creative peak, Shadow KingdomRecords will issue the European
vinyl of "Excalibur," Iron Void's
Arthurian themed nine-song release tracking at just over 45 minutes.

Vinyl
has been the financial shot in the arm to the music industry that few ever
expected to make the comeback it has. Partially such success can be credited to
bands like Iron
Void. "Excalibur"
offers rich, earthy sonics that seem made for wax. As the LP kicks off with
"Dragon's Breath,"Iron Void
is inescapably catchy as it is dense. The band is also deceptively elegant in
how its songs are constructed; the Sabbathesque "The Coming of A King" boasts a holistic duty to the story it's
telling, while not breaking the power of the song itself, its guitar or rhythm
section. Thus, lyrics inject themselves into just the right points, while not
interfering with the structure of the cut. You hear similar instances on "Forbidden Love" as well.

Those
who love fantasy in metal are going to appreciate the story immensely. Without
spoiling anything, just know that Iron Void set out and succeed at telling an
effecting tale. The vocals throughout are quintessential doom and even
transcendent at turns. As the album builds, it is impossible not to be swept up
in how massive the sound comes across.

In
addition, what doom and sludge devotees may most appreciate with "Excalibur" is its fidelity to
providing a new varnish to classic doom in the vein of Saint Vitus, Pentagram
and the like. As you know, there's been a major renaissance in the old-school
sound of black metal and death metal, hastened surely by the number of
derivative bands in more modern takes on these subgenres. Doom, stoner and
sludge undoubtedly have these bands as well – The Sword may have been the most
popular and prescient of the revamp – and Iron Void stakes its flag admirably. Even
songs like "Enemy Within,"
with clear influences from "Electric
Funeral," feel rejuvenated and original. Iron Void deserve a lot of
credit for having the courage to make an album that is inevitably going to draw
tons of comparisons, yet doing so in a way that feels like a modern makeover of
doom metal. Steve Wilson's riffs are heavy, Iron Void's lyrical themes are
solidly mystical and medieval, and its ultra-thick drums by Richard Maw and
bass by Jonathan "Sealey" Seale compose a ridiculously good
foundation for it all.

"Excalibur" is going to win over a
lot of classic doom fanatics. Iron Void should be on the radar of the scene
for a revivalism that it owns wholly and proudly.

Monday, 21 May 2018

Whether cranking out a moldering dirge
like the introductory, instrumental “Descend into Dusk” or the chugging
progressions of “Hope’s Aspersion”, Shrine of the Serpent deliver the perfect mix
of nauseating terror so often characterized by the best death doom bands

“Entropic Disillusion” CD//DD track listing

1.
Descend into Dusk

2.
Hailing the Enshrined

3.
Hope’s Aspersion

4.
Desecrated Tomb

5.
Returning

6.
Epoch of Annihilation

7.
Rending the Psychic Void

The Review:

I
love the menacing crackle of lo-fi death metal in all its permutations:
classic, grind, blackened, death doom.There’s a muddy, horrific vein running through those crusty recordings
that instantly invoke twilight drives through swamps and decrepit woods,
all-night gore flick marathons, and seedy exploitation VHS rentals that just
sets my monster kid heart all aflutter.Combined with the gruesome, sometimes nauseating artwork that typifies
the genre (even the borderline incompetent shit), even the rawest demo tape can
turn me into an easy mark for bands who can thrash out a competent slab of
death.It helps when they manage to back
up their swagger with some real bona fides, and the trio behind Shrine of the
Serpent have some real chops on display, bolstered by haunting cover
artwork by Mariusz Lewandowski & Vladimir Chebakov.

Whether
cranking out a moldering dirge like the introductory, instrumental “Descend into Dusk”, or the chugging
progressions of “Hope’s Aspersion”, Shrine of the
Serpent has one unifying characteristic: VOLUME.The vibrating bass tones and the shrieking
crackle of guitar leads are fuzzy, dirty, and punishing.Often, this hits that perfect mix of
nauseating terror that characterizes the best death doom bands.Todd Janeczek’s inhuman growls are
multitracked and layered in several different registers, imbuing tracks like “Desecrated Tomb” with the sense that
there’s a whole host of ghoulish, unholy narrators.Chuck Watkins’ drum performance is that
subtle balance of technical skill and instinctual barbarism that the best death
drummers can pull off effortlessly.And
Adam De Prez’s multi-duty efforts are formidable, especially his unholy bass
tone.

Unfortunately,
there’s a lack of balance in the mix that quashes some stellar intricacy.The left channel in particular is just too
damn jacked into the red zone, so you get clipping on many of the guitar
tracks.And frankly the punishing volume
can be unpleasant and diminish moments like the volume shift in “Epoch of Annihilation” that should be
chilling but instead sounds strange.This volume escalation is an issue that plagued even the best death
metal bands, as well as modern superstars (Metallica and Rush have both fallen victim to
“volume wars” in recent years).For a
band so solid in every sense of the term – rhythmically, technically, and
vocally – a steadier touch at the mixing board next time may produce a genuine
masterpiece.For now, with “Entropic Disillusion”,
Shrine of
the Serpent embraces both the pinnacles, and pitfalls, that decades
of death metal have traversed, while showing promise for exciting work ahead.

Gritty and uncompromising, Whipstriker truly are “Soldiers of Sodom” and will cast
their “Warspell” on you if you get a hold of this feral beast of an album.

“Merciless Artillery”
CD//DD track
listing:

1). Merciless
Artillery

2). Rape
of Freedom

3). Calm
after Destruction

4). Mantas
’Black Mass

5). Solider
of Sodom

6). Warspell

7). Enemies
Leather

8). Bestial
Hurricane

The Review:

Brazil's Whipstriker
are back- again- in their prolific career since 2008 they have amassed no less
than four albums and countless split singles and so on. If you haven't heard
the band, I can sum things up for you: Venom. This band are the hellish spawn of
Mantas, Abaddon and Cronos- ably assisted by Bathory, Hellhammer and early Celtic Frost.

That
tells you exactly what you are getting. This is a dark and rough listen-
echoing Venom's
legendary debut and Motorhead's attitude perfectly. The title
track kicks things off in gritty style- have a listen and you will know
instantly if this is for you or not. Over the course of eight tracks, you get Venom,
Sodom, Motorhead,
Frost,
Hellhammer,
Bathory
and so on all wrapped into an appealingly raw production. The band has gone for
vibe and attitude, not sound replacements and perfection. This really is a
warts and all recording- there are some imperfections here and there for sure!
That is of absolutely of no issue to me, though. There is also a fair amount of
very smooth playing and surprisingly melodic riffing. This music is supposed to
be rough and ready and Whipstriker have delivered their own vision.

If you
are after anything in the style of the bands mentioned above, this album is a
must. Gritty and uncompromising, Whipstriker truly are “Soldiers of Sodom”
and will cast their “Warspell” on
you if you get a hold of this feral beast of an album.

Thursday, 17 May 2018

Boy! Barst has done it again. On their 2016 outing, “Western Lands,” Barst
yielded stunning results when they combined post metal aggression with
claustrophobic psychedelia. This Friday, Barst is
going to hit the scene with a new offering, “The Endeavour.” In doing so, this Belgian band is taking their
sound to unexplored territories.

“The Endeavour” is presented as one, 42
minute song. Whether “The Endeavour”
actually is one, single song is up for debate. I’d go so far
as to say the album is three of four movements, all tied together by way of
smooth transitions. But presentation counts for a lot, and if Barst wants us to take this
album in as one song, then that’s what we’ll do. Either way, the band implores
the listener to give the music full and undivided attention.

As far as
genre is concerned, “The Endeavour”
is hard to pin down. There’s definitely a dark element to the music, and it’s
heavy in its own way. Is it metal? Yeah. Industrial? Check. Psychedelic? No
doubt. Heavy doom? Uh-huh. And those are just a few of the genres that Barst brings to the table.

Throughout,
the guitars are laden with a variety of distortion effects. None of the guitars
are ever overpowering, but they sure do set the mood. So there’s still a
subtlety in the music that holds the band back from diving head first into
mindless riffing. “The Endeavour”
continues its foray into the unknown by introducing programmed percussion and
other electronics, giving way to a rather palpable industrial influence.
Sometimes an Ufomammut tint springs to mind and at other
times the music gets psychedelic enough to wonder if it’s still Barst that we’re listening to.

Then there’s
the emotional palette that Barst paints from. It’s
probably even more varied than the musical palette. Barst
spends these 42 minutes intently dipping their proverbial paintbrush in the
darkest of blacks as well as the brightest of colors. The resulting painting is
one that grabs attention of both its somber tone as well as its shades of hope
and elation.

Despite the
sprawling nature of the music on “The
Endeavour,” the album is still a very concise listen. Barst’s
plan of attack is based on a clear vision, so much so that every note and chord
and melody played is as intentional as the last. Barst’s
vision is so sound that they don’t get caught up in themselves, but instead are
able to translate what was in their mind to a recorded format without coming
across as self-indulgent.

On “Savagery”
Skinless are very clearly still Skinless, they’re just a better and more
imaginative version of what they’ve always been
and in the process they’ve come up with an album that stands up to their
legacy albums and then some.

‘Savagery’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Savagery

2. Siege Engine

3. Skull Session

4. Reversal of Fortune

5. Exacting Revenge

6. Medieval

7. Line of Dissent

8. Cruel Blade of the Guillotine

9. The Hordes

Bonus Track:

10. High Rate Extinction (Crowbar Cover)

The Review:

You generally know what you’re
getting into when a new Skinless album finds
its way to the masses. It’s going to be brutal, ugly death metal, just as
they’ve done for more than 20 years now. But it’s also true that even the most
diehard death metal devotees are likely to feel a need to toy with their own
formula eventually. To a reserved degree; that’s the case on Skinless’ new album ‘Savagery’.
The changes the band have undergone with this album are not the sort of abrupt
sharp turns in direction of bands like Katatonia or Ulver or even Carcass.
Instead, Skinless have gone with a more subtle tact
to freshening things up.

One such change, which is obvious
from the get-go is that the band has opted for a much warmer, dirtier
production this time around. In the past, Skinless has tended to
go with a more “brutal death metal standard” production approach, where
everything sounds sharp, crisp, to the point of feeling clinical. On ‘Savagery’, a lot of that sharpness is
replaced by a grimier guitar tone, and by going with a much more natural, roomy
sound over all. The production works exceedingly well at setting this album
apart from the rest of the band’s discography without even looking at their
compositional choices.

The songs themselves feel different
than anything the band have done too. There’s less of a focus on speed. You’ll
still find plenty of intricate, hacking riffs, if that’s your thing, but you’ll
also find a greater variety to what you’re hearing than Skinless
have ever offered. “Siege Engine”
tries its hand at bigger, catchier riffs to great success, which should make
the track a live staple. Balancing those larger riffs with some blast n’ trem
keeps the song from feeling too self-awarely anthemic, but the song’s a
self-contained riff machine in either case.

Meanwhile songs like “Exacting Revenge” and “Medieval” have something of a moodier
disposition, where the riffs have an almost sludgy texture to them, the pace
sometimes slowed to a near crawl. With that in mind, “Medieval” might be the best song on the album. It’s absolutely
rotten with ugly harmonizing and apocalyptic chord work. It harkens back to
some of the slower moments on Suffocation’s‘Pierced From Within’, but tackles that
sound in a very different way, and the slower breakdowns in the songs second
half are absolutely crushing.

It’s not that Skinless
have reinvented their own wheel on ‘Savagery’,
so much as that they’ve just found new ways to work within their established
sound. They’re very clearly still Skinless, they’re just
a better and more imaginative version of what they’ve always been. It’s a hard
thing, trying to compete with nostalgia and legacy, but Skinless
has come up with an album that stands up to their legacy albums and then some.
No mean feat for a band twenty years on from their full length debut.

Band Submissions

To those bands who have recently issued their first demo or album via bandcamp and would like to be featured on our 666 Pack Review or considered for a full review or stream please contact Aaron via email including your EPK, band bio, album file or download code, including artwork.

To those bands issuing their sophomore record and so on and would like to be considered for a review or stream on the blog. Get in touch using the same address above

We will consider bands from any genre but exclusively stoner, sludge, doom, psych, post-metal, experimental, black-metal etc. (Whilst I would like to respond to every email, this is not always possible.) Thanks